US denies Vietnamese poultry dumping claims

Claims that US chicken is being ‘dumped’ in Vietnam have been fervently denied by the head of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council (USAPEEC).

Local media reports that US chicken is being sold at prices much lower than domestically produced products has angered poultry farmers in the country. The claims come at a time when Vietnamese poultry producers are already struggling to remain profitable in the face of high prices for feed grains.

"US chicken parts are sold in Vietnam at the same or higher prices than in the United States, so under World Trade Organisation rules they are not being dumped," USAPEEC president Jim Sumner, has said in response to the claims.

"US sympathetic to local poultry producers"

"We are very sympathetic that this situation is affecting local producers," Sumner said. "Consumers should keep in mind that the complaint is about US frozen leg products that do not directly compete with fresh locally produced whole chickens, which is the preferred product of Vietnamese consumers."

Sumner said that USAPEEC and the US poultry industry had always been supportive of the Vietnamese poultry industry, conducting various seminars and workshops aimed at supporting food safety and biosecurity practices for the local poultry industry.

"In the early 2000s, USAPEEC came to the assistance of the local poultry industry during the devastating avian influenza crisis, developing materials aimed at informing Vietnamese consumers that cooked poultry was safe and encouraging consumers to support their industry."

US chicken leg quarters

Two-thirds of the chicken leg quarters produced in the US are consumed in the US. Those remaining are sold to more than 125 countries around the world, including Vietnam at similar prices as in the US.

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One comment

USAPEEC is correct under present rules.But if prices drop domestically because of AI bans in other countries, the country that does not ban will receive quite a lot of product. With domestic prices where they are and many consumers in poorer countries going for cheapest available protein independent of whole or leg quartes, really makes it difficult for local production whereever it is.